A poet and editor who lost his job at a prominent publishing house after being the subject of anonymous accusations of sexual misconduct has filed a lawsuit against The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and four unidentified women, alleging defamation, conspiracy, and negligent investigation.

Jeramy Dodds, 43, a well-known Canadian poet based in Montreal, worked part-time for Coach House Books in Toronto until his name appeared on a list of “shitty media men” and an anonymous letter circulated claiming he used his literary prominence to sexually exploit women, according to his statement of claim.

News stories about him left the impression that he pressured women to have sex and “targeted much younger women for his sexual predations,” his claim says.

“These allegations were false,” the lawsuit says. Dodds alleged they were “founded and perpetuated maliciously by a conspiracy” of the four unidentified women, “joined in” by the newspapers despite “various red flags, such as the sources being cloaked in two levels of anonymity.”

The goal of the conspiracy, Dodds claims, was to ruin him professionally, make him lose his job, damage his personal and professional reputation and livelihood, and to “achieve revenge” for “unknown personal reasons.”

To that end, he claims, it was effective. Dodds claims a “catastrophic” loss of professional and personal reputation, loss of income, “mental anguish” and “irreparable damage” to his future.

This public shaming “continues in perpetuity,” the suit alleges, because the stories remain online and because they were written in a way that was “slanted” to “make an example of Mr. Dodds” as part of the larger cultural story about the #MeToo movement.

“As soon as you say that somebody has been caught up by the #MeToo movement, you’re automatically associating them with everyone else,” Dodds’ lawyer Richard Watson said in an interview. “It portrays the world in a cartoon fashion.”

The suit claims the four women “participated in in the creation and transmission” of a letter to Buzzfeed News last November. Known as the “Shitty Media Men” list, it accused 21 people in the media and publishing industry of “sexual harassment, discrimination, and assault.”

The women conspired to ensure that the email would be widely publicized, Dodds alleges. As a result, they should be made to pay additional punitive damages because they had “great power over Mr. Dodds,” in that they had relationships with him and therefore had the power to “ruin” him with allegations that would be given “undue credibility.”

In January this year, a few weeks after the letter to BuzzFeed, the four women sent the allegations to Coach House by an anonymous email, Dodds claims then, “addressed their allegations to the media and actively sought out publicity.” The source of these news tips came to be known as the CanLit Janitors Collective.

BuzzFeed reported on Dodds’ dismissal and the closing of the Coach House Books poetry program on January 24, but did not detail the specific allegations. The Globe reported on the allegations online that same day and in print the next, quoting at length from the anonymous letter. The Star followed much later in March after speaking to Dodds, who had posted a public statement. It also quoted details from the letter.

The Globe and Mail’s defence says Dodds has failed to make out a case for defamation, conspiracy or negligent investigation, and that he failed to serve a libel notice within six weeks after he learned of the article, which should bar his action. The Globe relies on the legal defences of fair comment and responsible communication on matters of public interest. It denies intending to cause Dodds any harm, and says he has not alleged any actual loss.

It portrays the world in a cartoon fashion

The Star has indicated to the court it will defend, but has not yet filed a written defence. Its editor, Irene Gentle, did not immediately respond to an invitation to comment further.

A separate lawsuit making similar claims against BuzzFeed News is to be filed shortly, Watson said. It was delayed for procedural reasons, as BuzzFeed Canada is not incorporated in Ontario, he said. (It is incorporated in New Brunswick, and its head office is in New York.) BuzzFeed News media editor Craig Silverman declined to comment on a potential suit.

The women, all listed in court records as “Jane Doe,” have not been served notice of the suit, and Watson would not say whether Dodds knows who they are. “We haven’t named them on the public record yet,” Watson said.

All of these women “allege that they have had a past personal relationship” with him, the claim says.

The newspapers “intentionally or recklessly” cooperated with the women’s agenda by publishing the “salacious” allegations “despite knowing the serious flaws in the credibility and reliability of the narrative,” the lawsuit claims. They tried to make Dodds look “guilty by association.”

“Each of the Globe and the Star created its stories in a way to highlight the sensationalism of the material and to make it fit their preferred narrative catering to the then-current popularity of stories about the sexual abuse by men of women through abuse of power,” the lawsuit claims.

This lawsuit was filed in late April, according to court records. The total amount of Dodds’ claim is $13.5 million.

Dodds claims Coach House Books had policies on conflicts of interest in the case of an editor having a personal relationship with an author, and that on several occasions he followed these policies by removing himself from considering submissions.

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